Fan Testing Round 6, Potential Fan List/Methods

[Martinm210]

I wanted to put a list together of the fans I currently have as well as some potential new ones coming, so I could solicit any suggestions about which fans folks are most interested in seeing retested as well as any general testing recommendations before I get started.

But first....a BIG thanks to shazza, Hondacity, Vapor, Gabe(swiftech.com), thefinisher, vhaar, Masika, MagisD, GingerJohn(ocn), XSPC, and NCIX for either sponsoring recently in the past or sponsoring new additions for this next round...

The Gelid 12 and Silverstone AP121 have both been sacrificed so I can no longer included those...sorry. I was determined to find some ball bearings I could use and had an itch for taking some fans apart..

I'd have nothing but a few yates without all their awesome support.

BIG CHANGES with this round include:

New Extech Hotwire anemometer - I know some folks have questioned the "Reading in Velocity" thing, but have no fear, it's all good. I will convert and probably provide a conversion table to CFM for you all.

American Recording Tech dbA sound level meter - I feel my old unweighted Mastech meter was simply too far off from my own perceived loudness to make it worthwhile, but this A weighted meter is getting pretty close. It's still only measuring loudness, and A-weighting is not at all perfect, but much closer..

Testing Scenarios: I've requested an MCR120 from Gabe at Swiftech.com and he graciously approved. This should more accurately reflect a lower restriction radiator scenario. The MCR120 is wider than the RS120 and should therefore have lower air pressure drop. Also my old RS rad has been tossed around in various bins of parts for a while now, there were a few bent fins I've had to straighten and it's simply seen better days. This new test will be on a brand new MCR..

Possible additional test scenarios: GingerJohn from OCnet has expressed an interest in sponsoring another radiator such as the GTX120. If that works out, I'll be looking to retest on the GT120 as well for a second look at a high density rad. Since I have the flow spreader in place, I think I could also do a third test without a radiator (simulating a case fan condition). Of coarse these will all double and or triple the amount of work, but I'm considering it and going to see how it goes. For sure I plan to test on the MCR120, and also the GTX if that works out.

Anyhow, here is the list of possibilities (not yet received, but at least what some folks were thinking about). If you have favorites from the existing fans list, let me know..still a bit unsure if I want to retest them all or just some of them... I will of coarse test all the new fans coming in along with several of the old ones...



And the Test Rig V3 notes:



And here you can see the old RS120 test template and a new silver open air template. I plan to make one more for the MCR120 when it rolls in.. Not sure if I'll get to the "Open Air" test, but it's ready to go if I decide to go that far with it.


And a little better picture of the flow spreaders. Obviously they do create some restriction. A quick GT15 test open air gives me roughly 42CFM (Open air spec is 58CFM) I suppose this is a good reason to include an open air type test though, that way you could compare case type scenario to the MCR120 scenario and split the difference or at least see if there are any differences between the two.

So generally my test rig setup will be slightly more restrictive than actual, but I feel the flow spreaders and port are worth the restriction to help ensure accurate readings.

Anyhow, that's what I'm looking at for this next round of testing. The new anemometer and sound meter are in place and new fans and the new MCR are on their way... I may start in on this testing as early as next weekend, but I haven't started yet, so I'm open to ideas..

UPDATED LIST 10-30-2010



UPDATE 11-2-2010

Special thanks to Shazza for 6 new fans...she even let me pick them out myself..

Also Gabe for the brand new MCR120, going to use the Swiftech MCR120 radiator for all the new fan testing..It is wider and should represent the optimal low resistance radiator test..
The RS120 is a bit narrow so the edges of the fan get slightly obstructed. The extra width of the MCR provides a cleaner mount and larger area should mean very low air pressure drop.

And for the first two retested fans, I've selected the Yate Loon D12SM12 and GT15.

Going to start testing these this weekend, but in the mean time I'll work on some unboxing pics..